SUCCESS! Shell stops Arctic oil drilling for this year

For over six months, huge numbers of us have been pressuring Shell to stay out of the Arctic. Well this morning, company bosses announced they were scrapping their oil drilling programme for this year. It's a huge victory for people power.

We started six months ago in New Zealand, when Lucy Lawless climbed and occupied Shell's Noble Discoverer rig, as it started its long journey up to drill in the Arctic. As Lucy said, "six activists went up, but 133,000 came down".

But that was only the beginning.

As thousands of you spread the word of the unparalleled insanity that is Arctic drilling, more and more people became involved.

When Penelope Cruz, Sir Paul McCartney and One Direction joined the growing voices calling out for Arctic protection it was obvious that this movement was going to keep growing.

And today together we've landed a major victory.

As one of the world's biggest oil companies, Shell was set to lead the pack and spark the Arctic oil rush. But a few hours ago they admitted defeat for 2012.

With the eyes of two million people on them, Shell executives knew that any mistakes would be noticed. And today they admitted yet another one. A special dome which was designed to clean up after a spill has been damaged. That means the end of the project for this year.

By shining a light in the far frozen corners of this planet, together we've helped keep risky oil drilling out of the Arctic - for this year.

The significance of Shell stopping oil drilling is hard to overestimate. After sinking five billion dollars into its failing programme, other oil giants are now questioning the logic of Arctic drilling. Only a few days ago, the Norwegian company Statoil said it was going to wait and see how Shell gets on in the Arctic.

Well today’s news makes it totally clear: Shell’s Arctic misadventure is an expensive and risky mistake.

Thank you to the thousands of volunteers around the world on high streets, petrol stations, universities and places of work who've shown what a movement can do.

This is a huge step forward in our campaign, but we need to build on it to make sure we keep the Arctic protected from all oil drillers, for good.

If you're one of the two million who've joined the campaign to save the Arctic - today is a time to celebrate what you’ve achieved against one of the most powerful corporations on the planet. If you're not, please join now to make the movement even stronger: savethearctic.org

AWESOME! Really amazing to see what people can achieve when we come together. I agree we must keep up the pressure on Shell and other oil companies to stay out of the Arctic for good. Great news though and a great way to start a Monday morning :)

This is overwhelming news! What an incredibly huge step forward! It shows once again, that the power lays within the people! Keep questioning, fight f...

This is overwhelming news! What an incredibly huge step forward! It shows once again, that the power lays within the people! Keep questioning, fight for our planet and restore the beauty of our lands! GO GREENPEACE

I am more skeptical about this news. Arctic winter and the problems mentioned will be swiftly resolved by this monstrous company. We wont notice, in t...

I am more skeptical about this news. Arctic winter and the problems mentioned will be swiftly resolved by this monstrous company. We wont notice, in the blink of an eye they will move again. Please don't forget this is only beginning. We won the first match. And I will be here for the next phase, supporting and helping spreading the information.

The Arctic must be saved, protected, Arctic and Antarctic must be left alone.